Ceremonial Inlaid Bowl, probably Santa Ana Island, Solomon Islands

apria ni mwane
length 14in (35.5cm)

Provenance
Harry Geoffrey Beasley Collection (1881 - 1939) (label on underside)
Jean-Louis Picard, Paris, October 8, 1991, Lot 17
Galerie Hélène and Philippe Leloup, Paris
American Private Collection, acquired in 1991

Exhibited
Long term loan, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (#L.2007.61.17), August 2007 - August 2017

Finely hand carved in light wood, deeply hallowed in ovoid form on a flared trapezoidal base, two handles on each end carved in abstract avian form, decorated around the top edge with three bands of triangularly-carved inlaid pearl shells with notched edges, decorated on the top edge at each end with inlaid circular chambered-nautilus shells; stained black with plant juice mixed with charcoal.

Birds and fish are prominent in life rituals and art in the Solomon Islands. The small shape of the bowl indicates that it was probably used by individuals in ritual communion feasts with their personal tutelary spirits. (Davenport, William, "Sculpture of the Eastern Solomons", Expedition, Journal of the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, vol. 10, 2, pp. 6-7).